Dear residents,

Since the beginning of the crisis , the Committee has discussed in depth what the Covid-19 pandemic seems to mean for the world and especially our country and of course, for Malmesbury. We have based our discussions, as you will have, on the information available to all via the various news sites etc, all of which continue to reflect an ever-changing and difficult  picture.

At this present moment in time the regular updates provided by the government seem to indicate that the country could expect that many of the current (and proposed) measures to combat the infection could well be in place for the greater part of this year.

It will come as no surprise to you that we all felt that the full programme of events - as currently planned-cannot and will not take place.

This view is based upon all the considerations currently guiding the government's and everyone else's thinking.

Our Carnival must take into account:

• the high levels of risk involved in groups of people coming together;
• the stress that so many, if not all, of our committee members may well be under as well as the needs all the providers of the programme’s events;
• the state of the numerous organisations and businesses to whom Carnival normally turns to for help and sponsorship;
• the need to maintain the Carnival’s finances for the future and, above all else,
• the huge uncertainty as to the overall state of our country and the local populace when the Carnival month arrives.

However, the Committee is naturally reluctant to break the continuity of Carnival and so, to ensure that we have some events to brighten the month of August, we are looking at ways of presenting a smaller number of virtual Carnival events  and we hope to be able to advertise this programme to you in the next few weeks.

We are also planning for the possibility, however slight, when the country is bathed in sunshine and has been given a clean bill of health by the government so that we can still celebrate Carnival with a Procession, and possibly music, of some kind. After all, Carnival is: By the Community, for the Community.

We will keep you informed of all our plans via the Carnival website  and Facebook

With very best wishes, on behalf of all of the Committee,

Mike Harding/Paul Overton (Co-Chairs), Linzi Renshaw (Secretary), Will Taylor (Treasurer)